Management Team

George Schmidt, CEO

With over 40 years in the moving and storage industry in the San Francisco Bay Area, George’s stewardship has propelled Meridian Worldwide into one of the preeminent logistics companies in the world. George was instrumental in developing transportations innovations to serve the growing needs of the Silicone Valley and through his leadership continues to lead the company into next generation developments for our clients.

Tom Stockbridge, President

Tom is the driving force of Meridian Worldwide matching passion with creativity to equal innovation. Tom’s 20 plus years of experience in logistics in the Silicone Valley coupled with his hands on approach to developing simple solutions to complex problems has been a bellwether in Meridian Worldwide growth. Tom’s passion and enthusiasm has enabled MWW to attract and retain the necessary human capital to meet customers’ ever changing logistics requirements.

Mark Laviola, Vice President

Mark’s distinguishing career in local, regional and national operations along with his guidance within business development of key vertical industries has been and continues to be a cornerstone of Meridian Worldwide value proposition. A practical realist with the ability to design and implement processes at the transaction level to meet the hierarchy of needs at the customer level, Mark’s leadership within operations allows Meridian to execute on every level.

Val Laguatan, Vice President of Network Operations

Val Laguatan is a Logistics Professional with more than twenty eight years’ experience in Global Freight Forwarding, Warehouse and Distribution program management, Third Party Logistics and Supply Chain Management business areas.

Val’s career began with Burnham Service Corporation where he moved from a part time role on the warehouse floor to one of the highest ranking logistics positions in the firm. In 1993, the trend towards third party logistics led him to join the Freight Forwarding Division of northAmerican Van Lines as West Coast Regional Manager where he was responsible for operations in both its San Jose and Los Angeles Branches. He built from concept to fully operational supply chain distribution solutions in and throughout Mexico and the US48. In 2002, Val joined Planet Logistics in which he served as High Value Products Transportation Advisory Leader providing unique and innovative services to firms on the leading edge of logistics, supply chain management, and truck load brokerage.

Val is Six Sigma certified and an active member of the Carrier Distribution Process Council. Currently, Val is VP of Network Operations at Meridian Worldwide. His focus is on First and Final Mile White Glove Logistics within the United States. He developed, secured and implemented its national distribution and transportation network. He is on the front lines of research and development for Warehouse Management Systems and bar code scanning technology.

Simon Dekker, Chief Information Officer

Simon has over 30 years of information technology and business management experience, and he holds an MBA in Technology Management from the University of Phoenix. He oversees the use and enhancements to Meridian’s transportation tracking systems that monitor and control logistics activities and home delivery. Simon has managed information technology programs for large fortune 500 companies and government agencies. He is an accomplished software designer and has produced large scale, enterprise systems in the defense, scientific, finance and business operations applications.

Jerry Hirsch, Corporate Controller

Jerry’s background working in both large, corporate and small, entrepreneurial companies has led to experience developing structure, controls and disciplines that allows Meridian Worldwide to offer competitive rates to our clients while meeting and maintaining corporate financial goals. Jerry has developed the strictest protocols to maintain the necessary controls and yet still created a flexible environment to foster innovation and risk taking that’s beneficial to clients and owners alike.

Ann Olsen, Director of Customer Service

Ann has been in the logistics and transportation business for over 30 years and during her career has served many capacities in management both in customer service and operations. Her wealth of knowledge brings an exhaustive list of account specific processes all designed to satisfy customers’ needs in any capacity. Ann’s honesty, integrity and undying support of doing what’s right for customers’, employees, contractors and business owners is her most obvious attribute and Meridian Worldwide and it’s customers’ are the primary benefactors of Ann’s unique skill set.

Tiffany Rioux, Program Manager and Control Tower Manager

Tiffany is recognized as one of the top trainers in logistics 3rd party delivery. She has 25 years working in logistics management and implementation. Tiffany is recognized as a leader in logistics technology systems. She is instrumental in aligning technology initiatives with performance goals. One of Tiffany’s largest achievements is the carrier network she trained and help build throughout the last decade.

Tiffany’s background ranges from freight forwarding to final mile delivery for some of the largest companies in the world. In her early years as a General Manager, Operations manager and Traffic manager she learned the value of standardization and superior service.